Look for Barry Sanders to show his stuff more often this season

HOLLYWOOD — Stanford coach David Shaw was careful, as always. He spoke of a potential tailback by committee this season for the reigning Pac-12 champions, featuring Kelsey Young, Barry J. Sanders, Remound Wright and Ricky Seale.

Shaw also made it clear: It’s time to see more of Sanders, the most magnetic name in the quartet.

Barry Sanders makes one of his typically sharp cuts during Stanford’s spring game in April.(Chronicle photo by Michael Macor)

Sanders, son and namesake of Hall of Famer Barry Sanders, has lurked in the background for two years at Stanford, tantalizing in practice and mostly watching during games. He carried the ball only five times last season, in addition to catching four passes and returning seven punts.

Now, as a redshirt sophomore — and with last year’s productive tailback, Tyler Gaffney, gone — it sounds like Sanders will get more of a chance.

“Barry’s grown a lot,” Shaw said today at Pac-12 media day. “He has the privilege and burden of his name, so he gets a lot of attention. But he knew he had a lot to learn when he came in. He’s learned the pass protection game, which is big for a lot of young running backs. He’s learned how to run the ball inside and outside. He’s become more of a complete back.

“It’s just time for him to play now. It’s time for him to see the field in crunch time situations. We’re not going to keep him out of dangerous situations – we’re going to put him in there and play him, just like we’re going to do with the rest of those guys. If it stays a committee, great. If one guy ends up with more (carries), that’s great too.”

One reporter asked Shaw if Sanders reminded him of the original Barry Sanders. Shaw couldn’t help but smile.

“There will be days when he looks like his father,” Shaw said. “And that’s exciting. That’s awesome. Barry doesn’t think of it that way. He just wants to be himself, which I commend him for – there could be a lot of internal and external pressure to try to live up to what his dad was, but he’s just trying to be Barry J. Sanders. …

“Tyler Gaffney gave us big-play ability, more breaking tackles than running away from guys. The thing with Barry is, it might be one-on-one in space – and that guy not only might not tackle Barry, he might not touch him. To have a guy with that kind of unique ability in space is a true positive for our offense.”